There are at least 10 million video display terminals (hereinafter referred to as VDTs) in use across the country, and it is predicted that there will be at least 40 million VDTs by the end of this decade. While VDTs are used for a variety of tasks, they are used most intensively by a range of office workers who may spend the entire day key-punching and processing information. VDTs have been instrumental in increasing productivity and efficiency for virtually every major industry, and will continue to play a central role in this country's economy.
However, as the number of VDTs in the work place has risen, so have the health complaints associated with their use. Surveys indicate that a majority of full-time VDT users report high frequencies of health problems. Among other problems, recent studies confirm that VDT users have higher incidences of problems such as eye strain, headaches, insomnia, back and neck strain and fatigue.
As these health concerns have been recognized as legitimate and serious, steps are being taken in at least twenty states to introduce legislation to institute health and safety protections for VDT users. While questions have been raised regarding whether VDTs emit harmful radiation, studies show that the radiation levels emitted by the VDTs are well below levels naturally found in the environment. Thus, it is generally concluded that radiation is not the primary cause of the physical problems discussed above. In contrast, numerous studies have indicated that operator injury such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tenosynovitis, which are cumulative trauma injuries, are caused by improper VDT workstation design.
In particular, the conventional VDT workstation is designed such that the work surfaces cannot be adjusted to accommodate people of different height. Shorter people must arch their body and elevate their arms in order to properly operate the keyboard and view the display terminal. In contrast, taller people have to hunch over to access the keyboard and view the terminal. Accordingly, the conventional VDT work stations have resulted in a high frequency of health-related problems.
FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional video display terminal work station. As shown in FIG. 1. the conventional work station includes a plurality of interconnected panels 1 having a plurality of elongate vertically extending support rails 2. Each of the support rails 2 includes a plurality of slots disposed along the vertical length thereof. Support brackets 3, having a plurality of teeth protruding therefrom, are secured to the support rails 2 by inserting the teeth of the support brackets into the complimentary corresponding slots of the support rails 2. The work surface 4 is supported by a pair of the supporting brackets 3.
Thus, while the conventional work surface is vertically adjustable, such vertical adjustment can only occur by disassembling the table top from the brackets and vertically adjusting the location of the support brackets on the support rails. Accordingly, to vertically adjust the conventional work surface it is necessary to remove all items therefrom, including the video display terminal. It is therefore not practical to adjust the height of the work surface on an hourly or daily basis to accommodate a change in shift of workers of different heights. Therefore, rapid, automatic, vertical adjustment of the work surface is not possible resulting in an unhealthy working environment.
Further, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is an ailment affecting the wrists, arms and hands, which many times results from prolonged use of computer keyboards. The syndrome is named after the Carpal Tunnel which is located in the wrist and forms the passageway for passing nerves and tendons from the arm to the hand. When the wrist is bent, the Carpal Tunnel narrows and compresses the tendons and nerves. If the wrist is bent for a long period of time, the resulting compression may damage the tendons and nerves, resulting in the onset of CTS.
Even when the keyboard operator is in an ideal typing posture the operator's hands are bent slightly outward. When the operator is in a less than ideal posture further wrist bending is required to operate the keyboard. As described above, wrist bending that takes place over an extended period of time, as is usual with these types of jobs, results in prolonged compression of the nerves and tendons increasing the likelihood of protracting CTS.